


couldn't it be easy?

by jetplane



Series: Whumptober 2020 [22]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Drug Use, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kidnapping, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27181133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetplane/pseuds/jetplane
Summary: Reid struggles with an unusual case and Rossi can't figure out whyprompt: drugged (day 22)
Relationships: Spencer Reid & David Rossi
Series: Whumptober 2020 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946050
Comments: 18
Kudos: 231
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	couldn't it be easy?

On the jet, the team goes over the beginning of the case. It's an unsub in South Dakota who has killed three victims, all white men in their thirties. The BAU is just working on victimology when a phone rings. “Garcia, you’re on speaker,” Morgan says, pressing a button on his cell phone. “Tell us what you found out.”

“Coroner’s report revealed heroin in the first two victims’ systems,” Garcia reports. “A lot of it.”

“They were drug users?” Rossi asks in surprise.

“If they were, they hid it well,” Penelope replies. “There’s nothing unusual about their finances, medical history, nothing. Everything looks normal.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t addicts,” Reid replies. For a moment, Rossi notices an expression that looks like concern on JJ’s face, but then it fades. Rossi brushes it aside. They’ve had back-to-back cases for the past two weeks, and everyone’s exhausted. He knows they all just want to finish this case and go home.

“That’s true,” Hotch says. “Garcia, let us know if you find anything else on any of our victims.”

“I’ll keep looking,” the analyst promises. “Garcia out.”

-

When the jet lands, Hotch sends Reid to the coroner along with Rossi and the rest of the team to the victims’ houses. As Dave drives, he’s distracted enough thinking about the case that he doesn’t notice how quiet the young genius has been. In the twenty minutes it takes them to get from the police station to the coroner’s office, Spencer doesn’t offer up a single statistic or suggestion regarding the profile. He doesn’t even comment when Rossi makes a wrong turn.

The coroner, a petite African-American woman, introduces herself as Dr. Clark as she shakes Rossi’s hand. She hands over a copy of the victims’ autopsy reports, which Rossi automatically hands over to Spencer to read. To his surprise, Spencer refuses the file with a shake of his head. “It’s okay,” he replies. “You can just tell us about your findings.”

“Of course,” Dr. Clark responds, looking slightly confused. “But I thought you might want to read the full report yourself.”

Rossi frowns at his younger coworker. In all the time he’d known Reid, he’d never seen the kid pass up an opportunity to study evidence firsthand. But he doesn’t press the issue. “Why don’t you tell us what you found first,” Dave suggests. “Then we can see if there’s anything else we might want to look more closely at.”

The doctor nods. “Alright. Well, according to our toxicologists, all four of the victims had fatal quantities of heroin in their systems. That is consistent with what we found during the autopsy, which suggested that each died either from cardiac or respiratory arrest caused by a depression of the central nervous system.”

“So they overdosed,” Rossi summarizes. “Or were overdosed, anyway.”

“That’s correct,” she confirms. “However, none of the bodies showed any signs of long-term opioid abuse. All of the track marks on their arms appear to have been made no more than a few days before their deaths. And I was unable to find any of the vein damage or liver disease that is typically seen in intravenous drug users.”

Dave’s eyebrows raise. “They weren’t addicts?”

“Obviously I can’t say anything with one hundred percent certainty,” Clark replies. “But I found absolutely no physical signs of addiction in any of the bodies I examined. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, none of these people injected or otherwise used opioid drugs on a regular basis.”

Rossi nodded, processing this for a moment. “Were there any other unusual findings?”

Dr. Clark shakes her head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. But it’s all there in the report if you’d like to see for yourself.”

“Well, thank you very much for your time,” the older agent says. “Our team will be in touch if we have any other questions.”

“Of course,” she replies. “I hope you catch whoever is doing this.”

“As do we,” Rossi says. He watches as she heads out of the room, then turns around to talk to Reid. But he’s nowhere to be found. “Reid?” Dave pushes open the door from which they’d come and hurries down the hallway. “Reid? Spencer?” He hurries outside and stops suddenly to find Reid standing near the parked SUV. The younger man is hunched over, one hand on the hood of the car as if for balance. “Reid?”

Spencer spins around at the sound of Dave’s voice. His eyes are wide and a little bit guilty, which confuses Rossi. In one hand Reid clutches his cell phone, half-hidden in his sleeve.

“Everything alright?” Rossi asks. “You slipped out of the coroner’s office pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I figured I’d update Hotch on Dr. Clark’s findings while you finished up,” he explains.

“Oh.” The older agent looks over his coworker. “Did you get a chance to hear everything the doctor said? About how the victims-”

“Weren’t addicts. That they were probably forcibly injected. Yeah, I got that,” he says shortly. “We should probably go back to the station now.” He walks around the car and climbs into the passenger seat without another word, leaving Dave standing alone in bewilderment.

-

After Rossi parks, Reid practically flies out of the car and into the station. Dave follows behind, mentally going over the events of the day. Clearly, something must’ve happened to the younger agent because Rossi had never seen him act this strangely before. He was irritable and unfocused, both qualities that concerned Rossi. Reid had always been a trouble magnet, but his current mental status could pose an even greater danger to him in the field.

Dave is just working up a plan to confront Reid about his behavior when he runs into Hotch. “Dave,” the unit chief greets him. “That was fast.”

“Yeah,” Rossi agrees. “We got a copy of the coroner’s report. She said that none of the victims had any signs of opioid addiction before they died by overdose.”

Hotch takes the file and skims it with a frown. “That’s consistent with everything we found at the victims’ homes,” he muses. “But death by overdose...that’s still rather unusual. There must be some kind of personal connection for the unsub.” He looks up after a moment. “Can you gather the team in the conference room?”

Rossi hesitates. “Actually, there was something I wanted to discuss with you. Have you seen Reid?”

A strange look passes over Aaron’s face, but it’s gone long before Dave can decipher it. “Reid’s with Morgan. You can gather the rest of the team.”

“Is everything alright?” Rossi ventures with a frown. “When we were at the coroner’s office-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hotch interrupts. There’s no anger in his voice, but Rossi can tell that there’s no room for contradiction in his words. “They’ll join us when they’re ready. In the meantime, we need to update the profile.”

-

It takes some time, but the BAU manages to put together a working profile. Their unsub is a single white male between the ages of twenty-five and forty who struggles with heroin addiction. He had a recent stressor, most likely some kind of rejection, that caused him to start killing people with the kind of lifestyle he envied. He was also being supported financially by a parent or other relative who was otherwise distant, allowing him access to enough money to sustain his opioid habit. The use of such an unusual method of killing was symbolic of the unsub resenting his victims and wanting them to be brought down to his level. Given the days between each victim’s disappearance and their death, the team theorized that the unsub had waited for each person to show signs of dependency before causing them to overdose.

The rest of the day is spent without much progress. Finally, Hotch tells the team to stop. “We’ll start again at eight in the morning,” he says. “Everyone should go back to the hotel and get some rest. Maybe tomorrow will bring new insights.” Reluctantly, the team packs up their things. “And we could only get four hotel rooms with the short notice. So some people are going to have to pair up.”

“I’ll take the kid,” Rossi blurts out before he can stop himself. Maybe he can find out why Reid is acting so strangely.

Everyone turns to look at him. Aaron quirks an eyebrow. “Dave, when’s the last time you shared a hotel room? Nineteen-eighty?”

“It hasn’t been that long,” he protests. “I’m a team player. I share rooms.”

Hotch glances at Spencer. “Reid, you okay with that?” He nods.

“JJ and I can share as well,” Prentiss offers.

“Alright. Sounds good. Let’s go.” Hotch and Morgan take one SUV to the hotel and Prentiss and JJ take another. That leaves Rossi and Reid with the last car.

They never make it to the hotel. The agents are five steps out of the precinct when a masked figure hits them over the head with a plank of wood. Reid and Rossi are both out before they hit the ground.

-

When Rossi awakens, he finds himself in a cold, dark basement with ropes around his hands and feet. It only takes him a moment to realize what happened. He’d been blitz-attacked and then kidnapped. A quick look around tells him that he’s not the only one. “Reid!”

Spencer is also tied up on the other side of the room. His head is down, which is slightly worrisome, but Rossi can hear steady breathing and knows that he’s still alive. It takes a few minutes of calling to him before his eyes start to open. The younger agent lets out a groan as he looks around. “Rossi?” he mumbles.

“Yeah, kid, it’s Rossi. Are you alright?”

Reid closes his eyes again. “My head hurts,” the younger agent complains. “But I don’t think I have a concussion or anything.”

“I think we both got hit over the head pretty hard,” Rossi says. “The unsub must have been waiting for us.”

His eyes widen. “You think - you think this is the unsub? The one we were trying to find with the - with the heroin?” Reid asks shakily.

“Yeah, most likely,” Rossi replies. “Don’t worry, the team will find us soon.” Rossi wasn’t terribly worried about this unsub. His ritual took several days to complete before he killed his victims. The BAU would definitely be able to track him down by then. “Probably within a few hours.”

“Hours?” Reid echoes. “How - how many hours?”

“I don’t know, kid,” Dave retorts, slightly irritated by the throbbing pain in the back of his head. “You’ve been kidnapped before; how long did it take them then?”

Clearly, this is the wrong question to ask, because Reid immediately squeaks and curls up in a ball. His hands come over his head as best they can while being bound, and he starts whispering something to himself as he rocks back and forth.

“Reid?” Rossi asks hesitantly. It takes him a moment to realize what’s going on. “Reid, listen to me. The team is going to find us and we’re going to be alright. You just have to breathe.”

The genius shook his head roughly. “Can’t,” he choked out.

“Yes, you can,” Rossi insists, wishing his bindings could reach closer to Reid. “You’re having a panic attack. I know this is hard, but you have to try to breathe.”

“I don’t - I don’t want -” Reid wheezes. “Please…” His breathing is so shallow that Rossi thinks he’s only moments from passing out.

“Just breathe with me, Spencer.” He starts to take exaggerated breaths, loud enough that they can be heard across the room. Reid’s breathing slows slightly. “You’re doing really well. Just keep going.”

He tries, he really does, but he can’t stop the panic in his chest or the shaking of his limbs. The cold reminds him of the cabin in Georgia, and the ropes don’t help. Combined with the images of the victims in his head, track marks prominently displayed on their arms, and the phantom needles he can already feel digging into his skin, it’s all Reid can do to keep listening to Rossi as he tries to console him.

Luckily, it doesn’t take too long for the team to arrive, the door flying open as JJ clears the room. The moment she’s satisfied the room is safe, she hurries to check on Spencer. Her eyes barely even seem to linger on Rossi as she falls to her knees by Reid’s side.

“Spence!” Her worried eyes meet the younger agent’s vacant gaze. “I’m here now. You’re safe,” she murmurs, taking his face in her hands. “Are you okay?” The younger agent trembles, giving no response to her question.

She turns to Rossi as her fingers start to untie Reid’s hands and feet. “Did he give Reid anything?”

Her sudden question catches him off-guard. “No,” he replies after a moment.

“Are you sure?” JJ demands, pulling Spencer’s hands free of the rope.

“Yes, I was with him the whole time,” Rossi replies, slightly irritated by her questioning. “He didn’t drug either of us. We never even saw the unsub.”

JJ nearly rips apart Reid’s sleeves in her quest to expose his skin. It’s only after she’s examined every inch of his arms that Rossi can see JJ actually take a breath.

Dave can’t help but feel a little irritated by this display. He knows that Reid is fine, albeit a little shaken from being kidnapped. Which is hardly surprising, given his age and inexperience. But Rossi wouldn’t mind if JJ bothered to check on him as well, maybe untie his hands or ask if the unsub had done anything to him. But the blonde agent seems completely lost in mothering her young coworker.

It’s another moment before Morgan bursts in. His eyes immediately land on Rossi, and the older agent allows himself to relax just a bit. “Morgan, can you-” Dave begins.

“Where’s Reid?” Derek interrupts, looking around. Rossi automatically gestures with his chin in the general direction of Reid and JJ. Morgan holsters his gun and rushes over, putting one hand on JJ’s shoulder as he kneels down to inspect Spencer. “What did they give him?” He searches around for vials and needles that are nowhere to be found.

“I don’t think they gave him anything,” JJ replies.

“You positive?” Morgan asks, joining Reid and JJ on the floor. “Kid, are you okay? Did he give you anything?”

“The unsub didn’t give him anything,” Rossi repeats, resisting the urge to add “which I’ve already told you”. But he can tell it’s not the time. He might be frustrated with his team’s overprotective nature when it comes to Spencer, but it’s clear that the young agent is not coping well at all.

It’s not until Hotch enters with Prentiss that Rossi actually feels seen for the first time. The unit chief looks over both his agents quickly. After apparently being satisfied with the level of attention being paid to Reid, Hotch turns to freeing Rossi from his bindings. “You okay?” he asks in a low voice.

“Fine,” Dave replies, rubbing his wrists. “The unsub didn’t get around to dosing either of us, but the kid’s still pretty shaken up.”

“I have medics standing by outside,” Hotch reports. “I’ll have them check him over.”

“No,” Reid protests, so softly that Rossi almost misses it. “No medics, please.”

Hotch hesitates, taking in Spencer’s expression. “Are you sure, Reid?”

Reid nods weakly. “Please, no medics. I just - I just want to go home.”

Aaron hesitates, considering this. “If that’s what you want,” Hotch replies after a moment. “I’ll let them know we don’t need them.” He leans over, whispering something to Morgan before heading outside.

Rossi watches as Morgan helps Reid up, with JJ and Emily hovering close by. The young agent looks more like a rag doll than a person as his coworker picks him up. As Morgan practically carries Spencer out of the room, Rossi wonders for a moment if he should tell Hotch to bring the medics back. But instead, he just follows, silently, into the warm night air.

-

Once on the jet, Reid slowly seems to relax. His head droops and his eyes start to flutter closed as his breathing slows into the calm rhythm of sleep. Rossi turns his attention to his novel, satisfied that the young agent has put the events of the past few hours behind him.

The peace doesn’t last long, though. A sudden small movement catches Rossi’s eye, and he looks across the aisle to look at Reid. He’s asleep, but his face is screwed up in pain.

“Please, no,” he mutters, twitching slightly. “I don’t want it.”

This catches the attention of everyone on the jet. Morgan is first on his feet, hurrying across the aisle to kneel by Spencer’s side. He takes the young agent’s arm. “Reid, wake up.”

He doesn’t. “Please don’t,” he begs, a little louder. “You don’t have to do this. I don’t want it.”

Derek shakes him more firmly. “Spencer!”

Reid’s eyes snap open, and he frantically pushes Morgan’s hands away. “No, don’t!” he shrieks.

“Spencer! Hey, kid, no one’s hurting you. It’s just a nightmare. You’re safe now.”

The younger agent blinks a few times before he seems to process where he is. All the fight goes out of his body as he slumps back. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

Morgan shakes his head and squeezes Reid’s shoulder as he sits beside him. “Kid, you have nothing to be sorry for. The case was a lot like in Georgia. We all get it.”

Reid smiles weakly. “Thanks,” he says.

Morgan gives him a sympathetic look. “Anything I can do to help?”

He shakes his head. “I’m okay.” The younger agent’s tone is less than convincing. “I just need a minute.” Morgan nods but doesn’t leave the doctor’s side for the rest of the night. Even when they arrive back at the office, Derek insists on driving him home. Rossi watches the pair leave before he finds his way to Hotch’s office.

“Come in,” Hotch calls with the first knock. He looks up from his desk. “Dave. What can I do for you?”

Rossi weighs his options and decides to tread lightly. “What happened in Georgia?” he asks.

Hotch’s shoulders tense up. It’s almost imperceptible, but Rossi catches it. Whatever happened in Georgia, it seems to be a sore spot for the whole team.

“I heard Morgan mention Georgia to Reid on the jet after he had his nightmare,” Rossi continues. “I’m assuming it has something to do with how he reacted during the last case.”

The unit chief tilts his head. “What do you think happened to Reid on the last case?”

Rossi hesitates. He can sense that there’s something he’s missing, but frustratingly, he can’t quite put his finger on it. “Reid’s a good agent, but he’s young. He doesn’t have much field experience. That close encounter with the unsub was clearly a lot for him to handle.”

Hotch frowns.

“Did something happen during the case in Georgia that made Reid react the way he did?” Rossi ventures. A faint memory arises from earlier in the case.

 _“Addiction is complicated. There’s still a stigma attached to being a drug user. That’s why so many people hide that they have a problem.”_ Rossi had thought that Reid was just talking about theoretical information. The kid had seemingly endless stores of knowledge, after all. But what if he’d been speaking from experience?

He almost wants to dismiss the idea out of hand. Reid was the last person he’d ever expect to be an addict. He was a genius, for one. And for another, he just seemed so innocent and...pure. There was no way he could have gotten mixed up in something like heroin. But then he remembers something else Spencer had mentioned. _“You can’t tell that someone’s an addict just by looking at them,” Reid said, fidgeting with a piece of paper on the table. “It doesn’t matter if you’re successful or smart or careful. Anyone can become addicted.”_

“Does Reid have...a history with drugs?” Rossi ventures. “Because he was...kidnapped?”

The unit chief sighs, rubbing his forehead with one hand. He’s silent for a long moment. Finally, he gives a small, conceding nod.

“It was a few months before you came back to the unit,” Hotch begins. “We were called in by local law enforcement in Atlanta to deal with a pair of serial killers who were claiming that their victims were sinners.”

Rossi winces. He’s dealt with more than his fair share of unsubs who used their religions in the most twisted ways. Faith was one of his least favorite motives.

“We put together a profile, but something just wasn’t right about it. Finally, we got something of a lead from a potential witness. Tobias Hankel. Reid went with JJ to interview him on his property out in the middle of nowhere.” Hotch takes another deep breath. “It turned out that he was the unsub. Tobias realized that they were onto him, and he kidnapped Reid before we could get to them.”

Dave frowns. “I thought you said there were two unsubs.”

Aaron shakes his head. “That’s where we were wrong. Tobias Hankel had multiple personality disorder. He actually manifested as three different personalities - himself, his father, and the archangel Raphael.”

“So then what happened?” Rossi asks, almost afraid to know more.

“Hankel had Reid for two days. He filmed most of it and streamed it directly to us. He beat Reid and forced him to play Russian roulette. He also gave him high doses of Dilaudid. It was his twisted way of trying to help.”

Rossi closes his eyes. He never would have guessed that the kid had been through so much. “So that’s why he was so upset. He was afraid that he was going to be dosed again.”

“He worked so hard to get clean.” Hotch clasps his hands together on his desk and looks away. “Jason would never admit it, but I think the Hankel case was part of the reason he left the BAU. Seeing what happened to Reid...it was a lot.”

“They were close,” Rossi states. Aaron gives him a nod. “Do you think he’s okay now?”

Hotch sighs. “He will be. Eventually.”

-

The next day, Rossi stops by Reid’s desk when he arrives. “Here,” he said, handing him a white paper cup. “I got you this.”

Reid looks at the label. It was from a fancy coffee shop near Rossi’s house, the one the older profiler loved but rarely went to because he couldn’t justify spending so much money on a drink. “You got me coffee?” he asks.

Dave nods. “Try it,” he urges.

Reid sips carefully. His eyes widen. “This is good,” he says in surprise. “Really good.”

Rossi shrugs. “I thought you deserved something nice after that last case. I know it was hard,” he tells him. “And if there’s anything else you need, let me know.”

The doctor holds up his already half-drained cup. “Another one of these?” he asks hopefully.

Rossi shakes his head with a smile. “Tomorrow,” he promises.


End file.
